Aspiring Carpenters

Dave and I have tried our hand at some woodworking recently.

Here is the tower of a bed that Dave made.There happened to be some excitement his first night sleeping on this skyscraper. As I understand it, Dave was jolted awake around 3am by a monstrous crash. A roommates bed frame failed and the poor guy fell to the floor. Mattress and all. Thankfully Dave's mad skills have kept him and his creation in the rafters so far.

I've got a couple wood projects going at the moment. The one that is functioning is a cover I built for our garbage cans. Even though the doors are not finished it keeps the rain off. This has made it possible for me to move our recycling bins out of our tiny shoebox of a house and retain a sliver of sanity. When I finish the doors I might update it here.

Hill Cumorah Pageant

Finally I'm getting around to posting the good stuff. The whole reason we went to Palmyra, New York was to see the Hill Camorah Pageant. It was wonderful! The cast mingles with the crowd before the performance. They were all very friendly, fun to talk to and patient with camera happy travelers. Here are a few pictures of the costumes we saw. Some were amazing! The snarly guy is King Noah from The Book of Mormon.




Here are pictures from the performance. Not all of them are mine. Thus there are some good ones and some not-so-much good ones. Sitting a 27 miles from the stage was somewhat of a strain for my little camera. But considering the stage consists of 12 stages and takes up the side of a Godzilla hill we felt very much a part of the action.


The whole thing was great. The effects were impressive. With all the fire and explosions I can see why it's outside. Granted, there's historical reasons for being in that locale also. There was a monsoon that I'm convinced drenched the first couple rows of saps-who-saved-seats since Thanksgiving 2003. Waterfalls went from stage to stage, towers broke in pieces tumbled to the ground and exploded and the Savior descended from the Heavens. It was amazing! I highly recommend this to one and all. And it's FREE! Free parking, free performance, free shower (if you want to join the saps in the front row). You just have to get there in July. Happy travels.

We halted our mad attempt at setting land speed records on our drive home to stop in Kirtland, Ohio. This town is also significant in our church history. We toured the Kirtland Temple, dedicated in 1836. Baby enjoyed the freedom to move around. We both enjoyed the air conditioning and the little break it gave us from being on the road.

1,634.7 miles and 5 days later we arrived home. It was a grand adventure.

Lake Ontario

After a restful night of sleeping off two days of driving we headed out to see the sights. The town of Palmyra is 15-20 miles from Lake Ontario. Being so close we couldn't pass up the opportunity to go check it out.


What we didn't do was get it IN the water. Which is the equivalent of going to the Louvre and not seeing the Mona Lisa. Or stopping at Grandpa's Cheese Barn and not tasting the smoked Gouda. All of which are tragedy's.



In our defense of not getting wet, the rocky shore was coated in a thick green slime. So I dangled baby's feet over the waters edge while my toes were mere inches away. We may not have entered the water but now my baby's feet can down in the books as having been "dangled".

We happened upon a good sized farmers market coming back from the lake. They had this adorable train, a pirate ship and extensive jungle gym. The train was the most age appropriate for our doll.

The Sacred Grove

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints the Sacred Grove is special to us and part of our religious heritage. Baby and I had an opportunity to spend some time in the Grove. It is a beautiful and peaceful place. A great way to start the day.

Smith Farm

The homes pictured below belonged to Joseph Smiths family in the early 1800's. We were able to take a free tour of these sites. At every turn Baby dearest had many admirers.

The log house was three rooms and housed 11 people. I can't figure out where they all fit! Let alone lived! This is a rebuild of the original log home.



Their frame home built after the log house was more spacious. This is the original building that their oldest son built for the family. The picture of the stone sink is white washed. Which is a major bummer for all of you since it was the coolest sink I've ever seen. Now I want to chisel my own for a mud room. When I say "chisel" I really mean electric dremel tool.

This is how they kept bees. Apiculture has come a long ways since then. Now if we could just train the bees to deliver the honey. "Here'z your clover honey, Ma'am. The orange blossom will be here in 4 weekz." "Thank you. Here's a blueberry bush for all your hard work."

The House that Dennis and Betsy built

We so lucked out when we got to Palmyra. There is a fabulous couple, Dennis and Betsy, that rent rooms. Their beautifully self-renovated home is located in the heart of Palmyra.While they didn't build it initially they have pretty much rebuilt the entire thing in the past ten years. We swapped construction woes and triumphs in good ole Do-It-Yourselfer style. They had an extra hundred years of house on our Tennessee abode. So they win hands down!

They have done an amazing job on this house! Like us they have spent all their time and energy on the interior. I'm still woeful for not taking pictures of the recently finished guest bathroom. It was gorgeous! And perfect for removing all the road grime and sticky puffs from small fry.

Their rooms are so big with all the comforts of home. In fact that bed was more comfortable than my own. Squirt had ample room to cruise around and remove everything from any surface she could reach. Namely the box of food, I, as an intelligent mother left at her level. She was loving it all. Especially when the attention directed at her tripled.

Thank you Dennis and Betsy!

On the Road Again

Baby and I are on an adventure. We pulled out of Clarksville at 5:45am two days ago only to return five minutes later for a forgotten item. Then it was the open road for us!

Highlights, Day 1:
Breakfast in the open near Cave City, KY with a nice breeze.
A cheerful suspension bridge welcoming us to Cincinnati.
Covering 448.3 miles by 3pm.
Recovering from an un-air conditioned car in the hotel pool.

The best part of all - an amazing traveling baby. She has done phenomenal! She sleeps the morning away. Wakes up for breakfast. Sleeps again allowing for some miles to pass away. Wakes for some play time. Then sits back in her car seat talking or singing along with her tone deaf mother.

Highlights, Day 2:
Pennsylvania rest stops. Yes, they are so great they make the highlight list. There are an abundance of beautiful shade trees, lovely picnic tables (under stated shade canopy), amble clean restrooms, friendly people willing to retrieve toys from under vehicles and this cool ambulance. Which will increase the neat-o factor of pretty much any place it rolls into.
Passing a Camry loaded to the gills with swords. Judging by the dragging bumper the trunk was also full of blades. Gave them a wide berth. Invisioning a wreck with them is ugly.
Rain to keep the temperature down.Baby dearest enjoying her travel toy box.Arriving at our destination of Palmyra, NY 852 miles and 33.5 hours later we feel pretty happy with our excursion thus far.

Notice anything missing in these photos?

It's the dog!

We are dog free for a whole week! Sigh... It's been a great couple days so far.